Ferdinand von Mueller

On 31 August 1871, G. Duncan of the Industrial Schools Office submitted to the Chief Secretary, Charles Gavan Duffy, an 'account with Dr Mueller's letter' [i.e. M to G. Duncan, 29 August 1871 (in this edition as 71-08-29a)] and suggested 'that some arrangement should be made by which the department can have credit given to it for the labor expended on account of other departments'. On 6 September, W. Odgers, the Under Secretary, asked M to return relevant papers that had been referred to him in mid-1870. Upon receipt, Odgers minuted the file: 'If the Industrial Schools Depart. is to be paid in cash for the labor of the boys employed in the Botanic Gardens the wages vote of the latter must be correspondingly increased'. On 4 October [Duffy] added: 'Is there any difficulty in giving the Industrial Schools credit for so much money as the work done represents (in the annual statement) without any actual cash payments?'